Nunez v. State, No. 05-07-00620-CR (Tex. App. 6/12/2008)
| Decision Date | 12 June 2008 |
| Docket Number | No. 05-07-00620-CR.,05-07-00620-CR. |
| Parties | ISAIAH NUNEZ, Appellant, v. THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee. |
| Court | Texas Court of Appeals |
On Appeal from the 203rd Judicial District Court, Dallas County, Texas, Trial Court Cause No. F06-37288-UP.
AFFIRMED;.
Before Justices MORRIS, WHITTINGTON, and O'NEILL.
A jury found appellant Isaiah Nunez guilty of capital murder of a child under the age of six. The trial court sentenced him to life imprisonment without parole. In five issues, appellant complains (1) the evidence is legally and factually insufficient to establish he intentionally or knowingly caused the baby's death; (2) the trial court erred in admitting a written statement because the officers used "question first tactics" undermining Miranda warnings, and it was involuntarily given because he was under the influence of marijuana; and (3) the trial court erred in admitting an autopsy photograph. We affirm the trial court's judgment.
Appellant and his common law wife, Stephanie Nataren, babysat seven-month-old Jaidyn Silva while his mother worked.1 On February 22, 2006, appellant watched Jaidyn alone while Stephanie went with a friend to interview for jobs. Appellant took Jaidyn to the bedroom and laid him on the mattress with a bottle around 10:00 a.m. He claimed he later heard a thump followed by crying. Appellant assumed Jaidyn crawled over to the window ledge, pulled himself up, and then fell against it and hit his head.2 When he checked on him, Jaidyn was not breathing so he administered CPR and called 911.
Officer Lee Berg, Jr. arrived on the scene, with the paramedics close behind, and appellant told him Jaidyn hit his head on the window ledge. However, upon inspection, the ledge showed no signs of anyone making contact with it. Appellant agreed to go to the police station for an interview and talked with Officer Oscar Escobar for approximately an hour. At this point, he was not in custody and was not given Miranda warnings because officers were uncertain whether any criminal act had occurred. Appellant told Officer Escobar Jaidyn hit his head on the window ledge. After the interview, appellant left the station and went to his parents' house for the evening.
David Webster, a paramedic from Irving Fire Department, was a first responder on the scene. After gathering the necessary information from appellant, Webster's focus returned to assisting the other paramedics with Jaidyn, who initially had a "dying rhythm," which meant he had no pulse. His skin had a blue tint because he was unoxygenated. After paramedics administered several rounds of epinephrine, his pulse returned. Webster testified that at first, he did not notice any bruising or suspicious markings on Jaidyn; however, that changed when his heart beat returned to normal. Webster then noticed bruises appearing on his right cheek and left brow area.
Lieutenant Jack Taylor with the Irving Fire Department also acted as a first responder and as the person in charge of Jaidyn's care from the apartment to the ambulance and enroute to Baylor Irving Hospital. The first thing he noticed when he picked up Jaidyn was the underside of his body was cool to the touch, which indicated some time had lapsed since the initial injury, and appellant may not have called for help as quickly as he claimed. He rushed Jaidyn to the ambulance, and paramedics immediately started administering oxygen through a bag valve mask. The only external observations he made at the time was a slight bruise on his right cheek, but it did not catch his eye as being significant. He started an interosseous IV, which he administered directly into the bone. In this case, he drilled a hole into Jaidyn's tibia to administer the fluid as quickly as possible. The needle used was very strong and severe, but Jaidyn had no reaction to it. He then intubated Jaidyn, which resulted in breath sounds returning to both lungs.
They eventually got everything metabolically working again, except Jaidyn remained unconscious. As his blood flow returned to normal, Taylor then noticed the slight bruise on his cheek became more prominent, and he developed a hematoma on his left frontal lobe. When they arrived at the hospital, Jaidyn opened his eyes, which Taylor considered a positive sign. He then turned Jaidyn over to medical personnel at Baylor Irving.
Appellant's wife called Jaidyn's mother, who immediately rushed to the hospital. She briefly saw Jaidyn before medical staff determined it was best to transfer him to Children's Medical Center Dallas because they had specialists better trained to handle such critical situations.
Marita Thompson, a pediatric intensivist at Children's Medical Center, was the ICU doctor who took care of Jaidyn upon his arrival. She reviewed his records from Baylor Irving and found it significant that when paramedics first arrived on the scene, they noted he was cold, which meant he had been in the condition for some time. She also noted his records indicated several signs of severe brain damage including (1) dilated eyes that were unresponsive to light, (2) failure to respond to pain when paramedics drilled an IV line into his bone, and (3) low pH levels.3
When he arrived at Children's Medical Center, he still required large doses of medication to stabilize his blood pressure, he was not breathing on his own, and he was unresponsive to pain stimuli. Overall, he was quite critical and went to the ICU immediately. Later in the evening, he also started producing large amounts of urine, which meant his kidneys were not functioning properly because of the brain injury. Dr. Thompson administered medication to prevent dehydration.
Doctor Bradley Weprin, a pediatric neurosurgeon, was the attending neurosurgeon on call when Jaidyn arrived at Children's Medical Center. He testified when Jaidyn arrived at the hospital he exhibited no brain stem reflexes. He explained the results of Jaidyn's CAT scan as showing some swelling, either from lack of blood supply or pressure. He also suffered from bleeding in the brain. The diffuse swelling, or swelling all over the brain, was so bad Jaidyn's brain lost its solation, or the "squiggly lines" people often see on the model of a brain. The white and gray matter was also indistinguishable. He concluded "The combination of bleeding on the surface of the brain, the swelling that we see in the brain suggest that there has been some serious traumatic forces delivered to the brain."
Although Jaidyn did not have a skull fracture, Dr. Weprin said that was not unusual for this situation. He believed the evidence established Jaidyn was shaken violently.4 He testified that a reasonable person would know that such force would cause the death of an infant. Further, these were not the type of injuries that could have occurred a few days earlier and then manifested themselves days later. The "acute blood" on the CAT scan established it was under twenty-four hours old and unconsciousness would occur at the time of the injurious event.
Doctors eventually decided to conduct a brain death exam. Several doctors from various disciplines conducted the exam and looked for the most basic of functions. Jaidyn did not have any of the basic brain functions. Doctors declared him brain dead on February 22, 2006. Jaidyn's mother decided to donate his organs.
Jill Urban, a forensic pathologist with the Dallas County Medical Examiner's Office, performed Jaidyn's autopsy. She explained Jaidyn had red discoloration of the skin and small abrasions or scratches on the right side of his head near his ear. She also noted a small bruise on top of his right ear, another bruise on his right cheek, and swelling of the right eyelid. He had contusions on the left side of his forehead and a small petechial hemorrhage in the center of his forehead. She testified several of the contusions could be consistent with knuckles from a fist. He also had bruising on his arm consistent with grabbing.
He had one swollen eye; however, she said that could have occurred in the hospital from the amount of fluid used to keep Jaidyn hydrated. She explained Jaidyn had subscalpular hemorrhages in the subscalpular tissue and over the surface of the skull. These matched up with the bruising on the outside of his face, which she again said could be consistent with a fist. His brain swelled so much the "sutures" holding the skull together began to come apart. She also testified Jaidyn suffered from subdural hemorrhages, subarachnoid hemorrhages, and cerebral edema. She also observed hemorrhages around the optic nerves of both eyes. He also had swelling and a hemorrhage around his spinal cord; however, she said this did not mean he was hit in the back. Rather, the blood from the head injury could have traveled down to the spinal cord.
He had at least five areas of impact based on observation of his injuries. One blow to the head could not cause them; however, five or more different blows from an adult could. Violent shaking could also have caused the injuries, but he also suffered some sort of blunt force trauma. Her final conclusion was that Jaidyn died as a result of blunt force head injuries, despite not having a skull fracture.
Based on Jaidyn's extensive injuries, officers obtained an arrest warrant for appellant and arrested him. Detective Randall Johnson, after giving appellant Miranda warnings, asked him if he wanted to talk, and he said yes. Detective Johnson explained the doctor's findings regarding Jaidyn's injuries were inconsistent with appellant's story from the day before, and appellant agreed to continue talking. The interview lasted approximately thirty minutes before Detective Johnson transcribed it. Appellant admitted to striking Jaidyn four times on the back of the head and two times on the side of his head. He also said he tossed him up a few feet...
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